The search for edible gold and attempts to create it in the kitchen...

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Il Goloso at Haberfield Post

In a first for boy and myself, as I write this post we are in the midst of a heated discussion regarding Il Goloso and where it lies on the 'edible gold' scale. Being the good little wiffy that I am, I do regard his opinion highly, and so now am in a pickle because I'm not sure that my firm views on Il Goloso are as valid as I thought! But more on that later.

We decided to go to Il Goloso after eating at their streetside stall during Haberfield's Primavera Festival last month. They were the only stall that had a feel of excitement and drama, as their calzone maker entertained us as he prepared our food. The calzone fritto won us over and we knew we'd be back.

We walked in and were quickly attended to by the staff. They have a good ratio of waitstaff to customers and their staff are well trained and attentive. The room is quite large and acoustics lead to the need to speak up in order to be heard, but it's an Italian restaurant, so we weren't exactly expecting a quiet night.

Dishes:

Garlic bread
Ai Salumi pizza
Fettuccine pollo
Tiramisu

And here is where the discussion begins. While I found the dishes to be reasonable, I didn't think they were anything particularly special, but boy disagrees. He loved the fact that the pasta was bathing in sauce and had enormous chunks of sundried tomato throughout; while I found the sauce too much and tomato too large to incorporate into a mouthful along with pasta and chicken.

The pizza also had us in deep conversation. Without doubt, the base was ridiculously good. That doughy-chewy goodness of a well crafted pizza crust was evident, but the topping on the Ai Salumi pizza were a severe letdown considering the golden quality of the base. For me, this was a deal breaker, as the tomato salsa had made the middle of the base soggy, and the meat and large amounts of onion on top were not thoroughly cooked. For boy it was more a case of base overcoming all odds, and we just need to return in order to find the type of pizza that has a better topping.

Our final dish, the tiramisu, was the peacemaker of our meal. Just the right balance of coffee and creamy goodness to have us both agreeing on its merits.